Title
Approve Draft Meeting Minutes - July 13, 2026
Body
DRAFT MEETING MINUTES OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY JULY 13, 2026
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.
* Members of the public can participate in person or remotely via Zoom.
Present: President Cisnero and Board Members Hom, Tsou, and Wang
Absent: Vice President Ariza and Board Member Ruiz
2. AGENDA CHANGES
None
3. NON-AGENDA PUBLIC COMMENT
None
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
4-A 2026-6163 - Approve Draft Meeting Minutes - June 22, 2026
Minutes can be found:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8127111&GUID=3A3BD616-B362-49F1-9644-911301FA7BB2&FullText=1>.
There were not enough members to vote on the minutes, and they will be carried over to the next meeting.
5. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
5-A 2026-6171 - Zoning Ordinance Amendment Regarding Short Term Rental Regulation - Citywide. Public hearing to consider recommending that the City Council adopt a Zoning Ordinance Amendment to regulate the Short-Term Rental of residential properties, to implement policy H-19 of the Housing Element. CEQA Determination: The amendment is consistent with the Final Environmental Impact Report (State Clearinghouse #2021030563) that was completed and certified pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) on November 30, 2021. On a separate and independent basis, the proposal is exempt pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), the commonsense exemption where it can be seen with certainty that the proposed zoning text amendment has no possibility of having a significant effect on the environment.
Steven Buckley, Planning Services Manager, introduced (*3:41) this item and gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8127112&GUID=715E678D-EB87-4C65-A89C-BA96C406B998&FullText=1>.
Public Comment for item 5A
Warren Wong (*30:35) discussed his career in real estate, gave caution to this ordinance and wanted to see “best practice” and “safeguards”. He brought up the bundle of rights theory and how this could affect selling of properties down the road. He felt the ordinance did have good safeguards but wanted more to address people who buy property just to turn it into a STR.
Athena Moghaddam, Zoom, (*34:18) discussed how managing an STR supplemented their income and had questions about language in the ordinance. They pointed out certain parts that needed to be addressed since it was not clear.
Steve Busse (*36:46) discussed his experiences as being a “host” for an STR. He shared his concerns about how the address has to be the same, their cottage has a different address. He also had concerns about the 60 days to find permanent residents part in the ordinance.
Karen Bey, via Zoom, unfortunately had technical issues.
Sadem via Zoom (*39:45) discussed his concerns as someone who lives next to STR and how it became party after party. The host lives far away and is not close enough to really monitor the home. He wanted the definition of “local host” to be flushed out and really defined.
Julie Ann (*41:59) is super host on Air BnB and an Alameda resident. She discussed all the benefits that STRs bring to the community and to the owners. She did understand the concerns people had and said those should be addressed without creating policy for everyone else. She wanted the board to continue to support STRs.
Phillip Kaake, via Zoom (*45:09) discussed then positives of STRs but did understand the concerns about load guest. He didn’t want to see people excluded due to the size of their properties. He was not concerned about properties being bought up for STRs.
Katherine Chang, via Zoom (*47:54) discussed manages a STR unit. She discussed how she handled nuisances and what benefits it brought to her family. She discussed what rules she had in place and that she lived next door. She had questions about short term vs long term rentals.
Action taken for item 5A
Manager Buckley took a moment to respond to the questions that had come up during the public comment (*50:17).
Board discussion starts at the 55:25-minute mark.
Board Member Hom made a motion to recommend to City Council to adopt Short Term Regulations and Ordinance as recommended by staff with the revisions discussed in this meeting by Planning Board Members and further finding that the ordinance is exempt from CEQA. Board Member Tsou seconded the motion, and the motion passed 4-0 with Vice President Ariza and Board Member Ruiz being absent.
5-B 2026-6114 - PLN26-0422 - Downtown Commercial Zoning Text Amendment Workshop - Public Workshop to discuss draft amendments to the Community Commercial (C-C) Zoning District and the North Park Street Gateway (NP-G) Zoning District to clarify, simplify, and streamline entitlement processes for retail, personal service, office and other commercial uses in the Park Street and Webster Street commercial corridors. No final action on the proposals will be taken at the meeting. A workshop to discuss and evaluate a proposal without taking action on the proposal is statutorily exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act Section 15262.
Cesar Mesias, Economic Development Specialist II, introduced (*1:34:05) this item and gave a presentation. The Staff Report and attachments can be found:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8127113&GUID=1318F898-8B26-400D-99BB-7C652079A84F&FullText=1>.
Henry Dong, Planner III, also presented.
Board clarifying questions start at the 1:50:05 minute mark.
Public Comment for item 5B
There was no public comment.
Action taken for item 5B
Board discussion starts at the 2:09:19 minute mark in the video.
This was a workshop and no formal action was taken.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A 2026-6161
Planning, Building and Transportation Department Recent Actions and Decisions
Recent actions and decisions can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=8127109&GUID=B7801D46-EC8C-4357-892F-7FE4C7CB7DC1&FullText=1>.
No decision or action was pulled for review.
6-B 2026-6162
Oral Report - Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Planning, Building and Transportation Department Projects
Steven Buckley, Planning Services Manager, informed (*2:28:06) the board that the July 27th Planning Board Meeting would be canceled. There would also possibly be a Special Meeting on August 24th.
There were no public comments.
7. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
None
8. NON-AGENDA PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
9. ADJOURNMENT
President Cisneros adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.
*Refers to the minute mark in the video